1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for refunding the first postage value of an unusable printed franking imprint that has been deducted in a billing module of a franking arrangement of the type wherein the franking imprint is detected in a detection step and error information associated with the error event is stored and information derived from the error information is transmitted to a reimbursement entity for authorization of the reimbursement of the postage value. The present invention furthermore concerns a franking arrangement suitable for implementation of such a method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Franking arrangements such as, for example, franking machines, PC frankers or the like typically are used to generate a franking imprint on a mail piece or a label that is attached to a mail piece. This franking imprint serves as verification of payment of the required postage for the carrier of the mail piece. Such franking arrangements normally have a tamper-proof billing module in which a billing (charge) ensues for each franking imprint.
In the billing module, for each franking imprint one or more registers normally are changed by a value corresponding to the postage value to be printed in order to document the consumption (use) of postage by the franking arrangement. In order to prevent fraudulent manipulations, the billing in the billing module normally ensues at or immediately after the point in time at which the print data necessary for the franking imprint were generated. This billing point in time normally occurs a certain time span before the actual printing, i.e. the actual application of the print image on the appertaining medium.
If there is an interference in this time span after the billing and before the printing or during the printing, for example a paper jam or the like, despite the fact that billing has occurred, no franking imprint or no adequately legible (and thus usable) franking imprint is generated. In order to save the user of the franking arrangement the financial loss associated with such a situation, conventionally a series of measures have been proposed.
For example, in European Application 0 814 434 a method is disclosed wherein in such an error situation, data for franking imprints that have already been billed but are currently unusable are stored. For subsequent mail pieces to be franked, it is then checked whether the stored data can be used for the current mail piece. If this is the case, the franking imprint is generated with the stored data for which a billing has already occurred.
An immediate loss is thereby generally prevented for the user. It may be the case, however, that no comparable mail piece is to be franked for a long time, in particular given mail pieces with uncommon dimensions and weights that are seldom franked. Such mail pieces that occur seldomly have the additional disadvantage that they often require relatively high postage values, so a comparably large amount of credit is withheld by the stored data in the case of error. Additionally, such mail pieces are particularly prone to cause errors (such as a letter jam, etc.) due to their unconventional dimensions and weights.
In contrast to this European Application 1 113 401 A1 discloses a method of the general type initially described wherein a compensation request is made in a franking machine for each franking imprint that is detected as billed but is printed such that it is unusable, the compensation request being transmitted to a compensation entity. The compensation entity then checks the compensation request and, if applicable, authorizes (initiates) the compensation. Each compensation request thus includes a series of items of information such as the serial number of the franking machine, the current register state of the franking machine, the account number of the user of the franking machine and the compensation amount.
In a variant of this known method, the registration of the error events ensues offline, i.e. the compensation requests are collected in the franking machine and are transferred to a remote data center upon the next communication of the franking machine with the remote data center. The data center then processes the compensation requests and initiates the appropriate reimbursement.
With this known method it can be prevented that unusable credit is restricted in the franking machine over a longer time span. This known method, however, exhibits the disadvantage that the compensation request represents a relative large amount of data, such that on the one hand a comparably large amount of storage space is required for the individual compensation requirements (depending on the frequency of the errors). A relatively high storage capacity thus must be kept available for the compensation requirements, thereby increasing the production expenditure for the franking machine. Furthermore, a relatively large amount of data may possibly have to be transferred to the data center, such that the franking machine has to be operated for a relatively long period of time for this procedure or with an increased demand on the communication device. Lastly, a relatively long time span is necessary for sequentially processing the compensation requirements, whereby the otherwise-available processing capacities of the data center are limited.